Characters / Boys over Flowers

Here is the page detailing the specific characters that inhabit the world of Boys over Flowers.

Makino Tsukushi

Voiced by: Maki Mochida (JP), Kelly Sheridan (EN)

Portrayed by: Barbie Hsu (Meteor Garden as Dong Shan Cai) (TW), Mao Inoue (JP), Koo Hye-sun (Boys Before Flowers as Geum Jan-di) (KOR), Shen Yue (Meteor Garden as Dong Shan Cai) (CH), Tu Tontawan Tantivejakul (F4 Thailand as Gorya) (TH)

The protagonist. A poor but extremely determined girl that wins a scholarship to Eitoku Academy. Originally, she tries not to stand out and ignores the bullying atmosphere despite her inclinations, but when her friends is threatened by the chief bully, she decides to dedicate herself to resisting it. The series focuses mostly on her romantic tribulations, first with the reserved Rui Hanazawa, then with the hot-blooded Tsukasa Domyoji who she ends up marrying.

• Adrenaline Makeover
• All of the Other Reindeer: As a family that moves from middle class to extremely poor, she tends to get a lot of flack at a school where its normal for students to go on field trips to Hawaii.
• Break the Cutie: She goes through this over the course of the series, but her Plucky Girl nature tends to win out over despair in the end.
• Brainy Brunette: She actually got into Eitoku due to her own book smarts.
• Butt-Monkey
• Catchphrase: Tsukushi's "Unbelievable!" ("Arienai-tsu no!")
• Deadpan Snarker: Although it's mostly wasted on the Sarcasm-Blind Tsukasa.
• Dub Name Change: In the 2004 Italian dub of the anime she was renamed "Marie-Yvonne Tudor", the Italian version of the manga however retains her original Japanese name.
• Friend to All Children: She has a soft spot for them, and they like her since she has no problem getting down on their level.
• Gold Digger: Her parents wants her to be this.
• Knight in Sour Armor: In her war against bullies.
• Meaningful Name: "Tsukushi" really is a stubborn weed (a type of horsetail, to be exact), and the character holds herself to it.
• Parental Neglect: While they're generally flighty but loving, one chapter has her coming home from school to find them and her brother packing their things: they were moving out to the city, not taking Tsukushi, or planning to tell her until that very day. Keep in mind Tsukushi's is in school and has no job...Her parents promise to send money for her, but when she finally gets a letter from them, it says that they don't have money to send her yet, so here, have some strips of seaweed. Tsukushi honestly thought she'd starve, and probably would have if not for her friends. They are also incredibly stupid, want Tsukushi to be a gold digger and keep losing money on pointless things like pachinko resulting in their poverty...
• Perpetual Poverty
• Plucky Girl: Extremely so. She puts up with enough crap in the first few episodes alone that anyone without superhuman resources of moxie would just curl up and die.
• Scholarship Student
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!
• She Cleans Up Nicely: First seen at Shizuka's party.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: At first, at least, and it's worth noting that she very emphatically likes Tsukasa despite his Jerkass tendencies, and doesn't even give him the time of day before he shows his heart of gold.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Still ends up with Tsukasa in the end. (Though only when he grows past his worst traits.)
• Stock Shoujo Heroine: Trope Codifier for the Slice of Life / Romantic Comedy types. Tsukushi is a plucky, naive, kindhearted young woman who draws the attention of four handsome men.
• Tomboy: Has definite traits of this (especially compared to most of the other girls in the series), from her outspoken personality to her daily pushup routine.
• Traumatic Haircut: Tsukushi gets her hair ruined by a bunch of bullies and has to get it cut, first by her mom and then by Rui.
• Tsundere: Rui (at least at first) gets most of the "dere-dere" where as Tsukasa gets the lion's share of the "tsun-tsun" (oddly enough, he seems to prefer it that way).
• Will Not Be a Victim: Utterly refuses to let bad luck and harassment get to her.
• Women Are Wiser: Especially when compared to Tsukasa, although Tsukushi is generally just more canny than the Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense people that surround her, regardless of gender.

The F4

Domyoji Tsukasa

Voiced by: Naoki Miyashita (JP), Michael Adamthwaite (EN)

Portrayed by: Jerry Yan (Meteor Garden as Dao Ming Si) (TW), Jun Matsumoto (JP), Lee Min-ho (Boys Before Flowers as Gu Jun-pyo) (KOR), Dylan Wang (Meteor Garden as Dao Ming Si) (CH), Bright Vachirawit Chivaaree (F4 Thailand as Thyme) (TH)

Tsukushi's initial worst enemy. He starts out as a brutish, malevolent bully who is Tsukushi's main obstacle to happiness, then his attempts to harass her get less and less threatening and more and more amusing, and finally he becomes the main Love Interest. He's emotionally stunted, immature, and kind of an idiot, all of which get more sympathetic once you understand the incredible neglect that typified his childhood. The richest and most aggressive member of the F4, and therefore the leader. He has a definite soft side, especially when it comes to Tsukushi, but has an extremely gruff exterior.

• The Big Guy: Definitely this. When in bad mood (and it happens often) he's willing to punch anyone in his path.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Since Tsukushi is his first and only love, he's rather clingy.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's such an enormous ditz that even the characters around him can forget how dangerous he can be when he gets serious.
• Disappeared Dad. Mr. Doumyouji is pretty much nonexistant for all that we know.
• The Ditz: As his Running Gag involving malapropisms would tell, he's utterly ignorant as he is sheltered.
• Dub Name Change: In the 2004 Italian dub of the anime he was renamed "Thomas Dolber", the Italian version of the manga however retains his original Japanese name.
• Dumb Muscle: The strongest of the F4 and the most likely to do something boneheaded.
• Elegant Classical Musician: Tsukushi is enchanted listening him playing the piano.
  • Subverted as he recalls that as a kid he liked '''smashing''' instruments.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He wouldn't have been one of the most terrifying bullies in a shoujo manga if he wasn't this.
• Heel–Face Turn
• Hidden Depths
• Idiot Hero
• Impoverished Patrician: Becomes this for a while when Kaede cuts him off.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Fashionable
• Lonely Rich Kid
• Love at First Punch: With Tsukushi. So much that they once provided the picture in the main page!
• Love Redeems
• Malaproper: Very, very much. In the manga, other characters have even broken the fifth wall to point out his inability to speak certain simple words in Kanji (as represented in his speech bubble).
• No Social Skills: Technically has a grasp of manners for formal social occasions, but faceplants whenever he has to interact with other people in a casual setting. He doesn't seem to grasp how and why other people react to emotional stimuli.
• Parental Neglect: His main Freudian Excuse.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: AND HOW!
• Quirky Curls: A Running Gag is people notice how weird his hair is.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Manly Man to Rui's Sensitive Guy.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Gradually changes in portrayal from a more snobby and superior type to a more silly and naive type.
• Single-Target Sexuality: The only woman he seems attracted to is Tsukushi, despite the beautiful girls who throw themselves at him.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Despite his weird hair manages to catch the chick's eye, and when he have it straightened he looks very handsome.
• Uptown Girl: He's the gender-inversion to Tsukushi.
• Would Hit a Girl: The number of times he attacks Tsukishi and others is disturbing.
  • Masochism Tango: Still probably not as often as she beats him though (although in this case, it is clearly done for slapstick humour).

Rui Hanazawa

Voiced by: Kouji Yamamoto (JP), Stephen Park (EN)

Portrayed by: Vic Zhou (Meteor Garden as Hua Ze Lei) (TW), Shun Oguri (JP), Kim Hyoon-jung (Boys Before Flowers as Yoon Ji-hoo) (KOR), Darren Chen (Meteor Garden as Hua Ze Lei) (CH), Dew Jirawat Sutivanichsak (F4 Thailand as Ren) (TH)

The closest that Tsukasa has to a best friend, and a member of the F4 as well. Tsukushi has a crush on him, since he has helped her out more than once. He's revealed to be still hung up on Shizuka, his childhood friend.

• Cloudcuckoolander
• Did Not Get the Girl: Twice.
• Dub Name Change: In the 2004 Italian dub of the anime he was renamed "Rupert Atkins", the Italian version of the manga however retains his original Japanese name.
• Elegant Classical Musician: Gifted violin player.
• The Lancer
• Lonely Rich Kid
• No Social Skills: Blunt and aloof; he doesn't seem to understand many social cues, tying in with his unspecified disorder.
• The Quiet One
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Tsukasa's Manly Man
• Shrinking Violet: Used to have huge panic attacks as a kid. He got better thanks to Shizuka, but becomes emotionally dependent on her.
• Tall, Blonde, and Handsome

Akira Mimasaka

Voiced by: Yuuta Mochizuki (JP), Alistair Abell (EN)

Portrayed by: Vanness Wu (Meteor Garden as Mei Zuo) (TW), Tsuyoshi Abe (JP), Kim Joon (Boys Before Flowers as Song Woo-bin) (KOR), Connor Leong (Meteor Garden as Mei Zuo) (CH), Nani Hirunkit Changkham (F4 Thailand as M.J.)(TH)

Third member of the F4, and a snarky playboy whose family belongs to the Yakuza in some continuities.

• Dub Name Change: In the 2004 Italian dub of the anime he was renamed "Alexander Motters", the Italian version of the manga however retains his original Japanese name.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Soujiro.
• Likes Older Women: He likes his ladies older, since his mother is One of the Kids.
• Only Sane Man
• Team Dad: A rather sui-generis case. He doesn't particularly care about forcing morality on the group (and probably couldn't if he wanted to) but is the general mediator for conflicts and seems to take it upon his shoulders when the group isn't getting along, eventually leading to him getting in a fistfight with Tsukasa when the latter won't stop stirring up drama with Rui.
• Those Two Guys: With Soujiro.
• Yakuza Prince: Specifically, in the live action.

Soujiro Nichikado

Voiced by: Yoshihiko Akaida (JP), Andrew Francis (EN)

Portrayed by: Ken Zhu (Meteor Garden as Xi Men) (TW), Shota Matsuda (JP), Kim Bum (Boys Before Flowers as So Yi-jung) (KOR), Caesar Wu (Meteor Garden as Xi Men) (CH), Win Metawin Opas-iamkajorn (F4 Thailand as Kavin) (TH)

Fourth member of the F4, he comes from a very traditional family involved in the tea ceremony business.

• The Casanova: Attracts by far the most women in F4, but only two women have ever had his heart.
• Dub Name Change: In the 2004 Italian dub of the anime he was renamed "Nathan Montgomery", the Italian version of the manga however retains his original Japanese name.
• The Dutiful Son: He serves this purpose in his family; his oldest brother left to become a doctor and is considered the black sheep of the family, while Soujirou stayed behind to train to take charge of his family's tea ceremony enterprise. However, while he's not the protagonist, he's a far more important character than his never-seen brother, and is a flagrant hedonist and womanizer.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Akira.
• Lonely Rich Kid
• Relationship Upgrade: In the 2018 Chinese version, he ends up in a happy relationship with Xiaoyu, the Chinese verison of Yuki.
• Ship Tease: With Yuki, in some continuities. A full-blown relationship in the 2018 version.
• The Smart Guy
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky
• Those Two Guys: With Akira.

Other Characters

Yuuki Matsuoka

Voiced by: Kanako Tobimatsu (JP), Tabitha St. Germain (EN)

Portrayed by: Rainie Yang (Meteor Garden as Xiao You) (TW), Aki Nishihara (JP), Kim So-eun (Boys Before Flowers as Kim Ga-eul) (KOR), Li Jia Qi (Meteor Garden as Xiao You) (CH), Prim Chanikan Tangkabodee (F4 Thailand as Kaning) (TH)

Tsukushi's old friend, who works part-time with her in a dango shop.

• Better as Friends: With Soujiro.
• The Cutie
• Girl Next Door
• Important Haircut
• Ship Tease: Again, with Soujiro.

Makiko Endou

Voiced by: Fuuko Misaki (JP), Nicole Bouma (EN)

The first friend that Tsukishi makes in Eitoku. It's thanks to Tsukushi standing up for her sake that she's at first targeted by the F4.

• Broken Bird: For such a shy and sweet girl, she's very cynical about Eitoku as a whole.
• Lovable Coward
• Shrinking Violet

Shizuka Todou

Voiced by: Keiko Imamura (JP), Nicole Oliver (EN)

Portrayed by: Winnie Qian (Meteor Garden as Teng Tang Qing), Mayumi Sada (JP), Han Chae-young (Boys Before Flowers as Min Seo-hyun) (KOR)

Rui's girlfriend, a beautiful actress and teen idol.

• Important Haircut: To prove that she's serious into retiring from showbiz to become a lawyer, she cuts off her long dark hair.
• Nice Girl: Unlike some of the other popular students, she's nice to Tsukushi despite her conflict with F4 and helped clean her up. She even defended her on the summer trip when Yuriko, Minako, and Erika were badmouthing her and lent a dress for the party on the yacht.

Sakurako Sanjou

Voiced by: Rumi Shishido (JP); Joecelyne Lowen (EN)

Portrayed by: Ye An Tin (Meteor Garden as Li Zhen) (TW), Megumi Sato (JP), Lee Si-young (Boys Before Flowers as Oh Min-ji) (KOR)

A really pretty girl whom Tsukushi protects from some people harassing her. However, she has a far darker side...

• Disproportionate Retribution: She does all kinds of horrible things to Tsukushi... to obtain her revenge on Tsukasa, who bullied her and called her ugly as a child.
• I Am Not Pretty: Feels unattractive even tough she's really pretty. To the extent of getting plastic surgery because Tsukasa relentlessly bullied her due to being merely plain in looks. At age 16.

Kaede Domyouji

Voiced by: Mika Doi (JP)

Portrayed by: Zhen Xiu (Meteor Garden as Dao Ming Feng) (TW), Mariko Kaga (JP), Lee Hye-young (Boys Before Flowers as Kang Hee-soo) (KOR)

Tsukasa's mother, as well as the leaderess of the Doumyouji family.

• Abusive Parents: To both Tsubaki and Tsukasa. It says a lot when we see that she's the ONLY person who terrifies the plucky Tsubaki into submission.
• Arranged Marriage: Ropes Tsubaki into one, wants to do that to Tsukasa and Shigeru.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive
• Evil Matriarch: And holy goddamned shit HOW!
• Heel–Face Turn
• Parental Marriage Veto
• Rich Bitch: And how.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Yissssss.

Tsubaki Doumyouji

Voiced by: Chiho Ohkawa (JP); Willow Johnson (EN)

Portrayed by: Mary Hsu (Meteor Garden as Dao Ming Zhuang) (TW), Nanako Matsushima (JP), Kim Hyun-joo (Boys Before Flowers as Gu Jun-hee) (KOR)

Tsukasa's older sister, and the one who was mostly in charge of his early upbringing due to Parental Abandonment. A gorgeous and famous top model, she lives with her husband in the USA.

• Arranged Marriage
• Cool Big Sis
• Ojou
• Parental Marriage Veto: We learn she used to date a working-class boy and her mom put an end to their relationship.
• Tsundere: Type A, to the core.

Shigeru Ookawahara

Voiced by: Emika Sato (JP); Rebecca Shoichet (EN)

Portrayed by: Ke Huan Ru (Meteor Garden as He Yuan Zi) (TW), Natsuki Kato (JP), Lee Min-jung (Boys Before Flowers as Ha Jae-kyung) (KOR)

Tsukasa's very cute, yet also very eccentric fiancée.

• Arranged Marriage: With Tsukasa. She does sorta like him, but is aware that he loves Tsukushi.
• Boyish Short Hair
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Gender-Blender Name
• Genki Girl
• Ojou
• Shipper on Deck: For Tsukasa and Tsukushi.

Yuriko Asai, Minako Yamano, and Erika Ayuhara

Three girls who are INSANELY jealous of Tsukushi for the attention she gets from the F4.

• Alpha Bitches: A whole Girl Posse of them.
• Clingy Jealous Girls
• Green-Eyed Monster
• Rich Bitches
• Satellite Characters: Their whole gig is about them bullying Tsukushi due to jealousy over the F4.
• Terrible Trio

Urara-sensei

The head nurse from Eitoku.

• Canon Foreigner: Only appears in the anime.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Though, if you pay some attention to her rants, you may find some useful advice.

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